1. Technical Field
This invention relates to collapsible frames and, more particularly, to a collapsible frame for holding a baby carrier.
2. Prior Art
One of the most important criteria in the busy lives of today's parents and caregivers is convenience and comfort in all aspects whether at home or visiting family, friends, events or dining out at restaurants. Parents appreciate concepts that facilitate efficiency, safety and mobility to accommodate the needs of their infants and toddlers, thereby, making their life easier.
A baby accessory that is commonly used for transporting babies is called, quite appropriately, a baby carrier. Parents use baby carriers to transport their infants and take toddlers to various places including restaurants when they elect to have dinner or some other meal away from home. Restaurants are primarily designed to cater to adults but many do carry a few high chairs to accommodate customers with infants and toddlers. The high chairs used by restaurants are usually wooden high chairs with a seat and/or a movable tray which can be lifted up to fit a baby in the chair and pulled downward after the baby is properly positioned.
These chairs, with the exception of the one with the movable tray, are rigidly constructed and take up an inordinate amount of space in a restaurant when they are not being used. Additionally, as noted earlier, many parents carry their infant to a restaurant in a baby carrier. The wooden restaurant chair to hold the baby carrier must be reversed to accommodate the baby carrier after that end of the chair has been on the floor. Then the chair is reversed again to accommodate a toddler. Most times the wooden chair provided for this type of usage must be carried overhead by the server across the restaurant. Obviously, it would be advantageous to provide a means for resolving these types of problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,241 in the name of Rho discloses a high-chair with a base stand constituted by two mutually foldable arms. A chair-like body is slidably supported on one of the arms and has a back which is rigidly associated with guiding elements for sliding on the related arm. A seat is hinged to the back and is in turn hinged to a foot-rest which can be folded, together with the seat, toward the back. Elements are provided for releasably locking the chair body onto the related arm and allow a continuous sliding of the chair body on the arm for movement in the direction of lifting the chair body and, in discrete and successive portions, for movement in the direction of lowering the chair body. Unfortunately, this prior art example does not provide a method for supporting a baby carrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,290 to Kokuzian discloses an infant car seat support assembly for securing an infant car seat to a portable support assembly. The infant car seat support assembly includes a pair of support members. Each support member has a pair of legs and a cross member extending between upper ends of the pair of legs. The support members are pivotally coupled to each other in a manner such that the cross members are positioned in a substantially parallel spaced relationship to each other to define an open position. The infant car seat support assembly also has at least one brace member that has opposite ends. Each end of the brace member is couplable to a respective one of the cross members for holding the support members in the open position. One of the cross members is designed to securely engage an infant car seat clip, whereby the infant car seat support assembly can be securely engaged to the infant car seat. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed for also functioning as a standard high chair.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,619,734 to Helmsderfer discloses a multi-purpose child support device comprised of a frame having a base for placement on a floor surface and a support section positioned above said base. A seat element is configured for receiving a toddler child in a sitting position and is coupled with the support section above the floor surface for forming a high chair. The seat element is displaceably mounted to the frame and is operable for being selectively removed from the support section such that the support section receives an infant child carrier for supporting an infant child carrier above a floor surface. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not collapsible and thereby easily stored.
Accordingly, the present invention is disclosed in order to overcome the above noted shortcomings. The present invention is convenient and easy to use, lightweight yet durable in design, and designed for holding a baby carrier. The collapsible support frame is simple to use, inexpensive, and designed for many years of repeated use.